


Watchers Of The Dark

by rstlss



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Vampire, And violence, Attempt at Humor, Blood and Violence, Explicit Language, F/F, Fluff, Graphic Description, Gun Violence, How Do I Tag, Just coping, M for violence, Meaning, Mild Humor, Mild Language, Monsters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some Humor, Tags May Change, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, Violence, also magic, also monsters, and blood, btw if you know me from twt, btw no smut, but i wont spoil anything, descriptive, did i say modern au?, hello, i am coping with this, i forgot one tag, i have a lore prepared already, i like to keep some details a mystery, i plan to end on halloween, if you guys like this, just good ol action, maybe explicit language, new characters and tags every time a new chapter is released, no smut here, oh i remember now, oh right, okay, once again, only if this gets positive feedback, or like attention, sorry - Freeform, tags to be updated, very descriptive, yes i did
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26529121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rstlss/pseuds/rstlss
Summary: Amity and Luz are vampire hunters, and this is their story.They also use magic which is neat.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	1. Something's Changed: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> i could make an entire story out of this w/o using TOH as the characters but hey here we are because i love them and i have planned out chapters of lore and action already and magic and vampire hunters are just amazing concepts together and i would like to put my favorite characters in such concepts BUT NO SMUT IN THE FUTURE i just used m for the graphic violence here anyway i have been talking for too long enjoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our first encounter with the two vampire hunters, one of them extremely unprepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is an extremely detailed chapter (i will write more of these on later parts) so yes good luck i wanna help your imagination

The howls of werewolves echoed through the valley as the hoots of carnivorous owls followed through. The moon wasn’t shining as it’s supposed to be, but it’s there, alright. It’s there to clear up the sky. The night was late and the stars were shining throughout the entire dim sky, like how a warehouse would be lit by cheap fluorescent bulbs, resulting in the entire space with faint light and almost sad ambience. In other words, the night is shit to say the least, and it’s also creepy as fuck.

Luz didn’t mind, though, but it doesn’t mean that she’s enjoying it.

It didn’t also help that Luz was running around a graveyard full of mausoleums (Seriously, how rich is this graveyard?), trying to navigate the maze in order to escape from a certain creature that’s haunting the rest of her 40-years career plan: a vampire.

Specifically, she is being chased down by a level 2 threat vampire which turned into a level 4 threat. These “level 2 threats” type of red-ish-skinned vampires are those who are extremely hostile and skinny, nocturnal, spine sticking out of their back, extremely slouched, teeth looking like a swiss army knife, ears pointing to an extreme upward position, nails as sharp as a hard butter knife, and most importantly---

“ _THEY FUCKING SMELL BAD,_ ” Luz thought as took a sharp turn.

It’s not that Luz can’t handle the situation; she just mishandled the situation. She’s complacent to say the least. She was presented with a mission, as far as she was listening, that described the target as threat level 2 who is hiding among a swarm of other rabid vampires, and it was something that she handled like a million times before, so imagine the surprise on Luz’ face when she learned that the vampire isn’t hiding from swarm; they were feeding off the swarm (This was what she got for not listening during the debriefing where her boss clearly said it can go to level 4 if not taken care of immediately). The amount of regret from Luz was unimaginable when she realized she only packed 4 shotgun rounds and a dirk (So much for arrogance and cockiness). After being spotted, the vampire quickly devoured the smaller rabid vampires and their muscles vamped up (aha, puns) to a hundred while having the same other features as mentioned while ago. In an instance, when level 2 became level 4, Luz wasn’t prepared.

If one could see Luz right now, they can be totally fine with what they're seeing. The tan-skinned young adult in her 20’s is running around, but she doesn’t look like she’s about to lose balance anytime now. Sporting a trench coat with a tee underneath (lazy day) and pants (all of them have extremely thick fibers and threads with kevlar paddings in between just in case somebody starts shooting), wearing combat boots and gloves, and as an extra, she has her shotgun shell strap. She is also holding her shotgun and dirk in each of her hands. Her face is also composed and calm as she sprints through the graveyard flawlessly, adding the cherry on top to look like she has the situation under control.

However, her thoughts say otherwise.

“ _Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck---,_ ” Luz thought as she almost tripped over the dead rabid vampire that was not there 20 minutes ago when she entered the graveyard. She kept on running with the almost 7-foot monstrosity following behind her, jumping on top of every mausoleum there in order to keep up with Luz. For a moment, out of frustration, the monster let out a terrifying screech (haha sore loser) as they stopped at one spot.

“I was NOT expecting this,” Luz shouted.

“ _Need a hand?_ ” somebody said over the earpiece Luz was wearing.

“Yes! No! I mean---I have the situation under control,” Luz immediately replied.

“ _Hmmm. It doesn’t seem like it,_ ” the voice said.

“Where are you anyway?!” Luz shouted in annoyance as reply.

At this very exact moment, Luz immediately halted as she was met with a concrete wall, putting her in a dead end.

“ _I’m in my ‘backup’ position like you said,_ ” the voice replied to Luz’ previous statement.

“Okay, I think I might need help now,” Luz said, and right on cue, the monster appeared right in front of her, letting out a frustrated yell.

“ _Hmmm, I don’t know. You said you have the situation under control._ ”

“Are you fucking kidding---,” Luz said as she was abruptly cut by the fact that she saw the Monster leaping into her. She narrowly avoided them, rolling to the side, leaving a cut to the monster’s side as she rose up in a kneeling position, and immediately jumping away from the monster. This left the monster with a small scratch that they found such an annoyance.

“You know what I mean!” Luz replied to the voice talking to her through the earpiece as she threw her shotgun to the side. In this instance, the monster turned around to Luz, letting out a yell that can penetrate right through anyone’s skull and leave them in fear. Good thing Luz has had enough of such screams that she didn’t even falter. She immediately raised her dirk in front of her face, targeting the monster in front of her with sheer instincts at play.

“ _Let me think about it, okay?_ ” the voice said all of a sudden, causing Luz to lose her composure.

“Motherfuck---,” Luz said, being interrupted once again by the monster in front of her. This time, the monster stopped in front of her, preparing to swing with their right, letting out a yell before it landed. It was a fortunate move because Luz had the time to assess the situation, leading her to barely dodge the swing by ducking far down, and she then proceeded to lock her sights to the right shoulder of the monster. As the monster stopped its swing, Luz immediately jumped to put a deep slice to the joint of the monster. Surprisingly, the skin of the monster feels like paper as Luz cuts through the layer of tissue with ease, causing Luz to disable the monster’s right arm functions. This was enough to startle the monster and stop attacking Luz for a moment, leaving Luz with a room to catch her breath and scold the voice talking to her.

“Amity!” Luz shouted in an annoyed yet pleading manner. She immediately focused her energy on talking, ignoring the regenerating monster in a rapid manner. Before she knew it, she got donkey-kicked by the monster back to the dead end wall. She has been kicked enough already for her to quickly react by casting an air spell to avoid collision.

“Great,” Luz simply said. “Now you made me use it.”

The monster acknowledged the remark as they screamed in intimidation, but it also became more agitated, looking at Luz and deciding where to hit next, and as fast as they could, the monster simply lept towards Luz, making Luz half-crouch, readying her fighting stance. The monster stopped once again in front of Luz, but this time, it was careful about their move. They weren’t swinging wildly as they did a while, but rather the monster was furying through Luz with continuous swipes, hoping that it could kill Luz.

Luckily, Luz’ years of experience are paying off. The moment the monster stopped in front of her, she quickly put the handle of the dirk over her mouth, biting it in place of holding it, in order for her to have total control over her body as she prepared dodging the incoming attacks. Considering that the monster’s hide felt like paper, Luz made sure to cut the monster every time it attacked, flawlessly dodging at the same time. Eventually, after several cuts, the monster stopped as it screeched in an extremely deafening pitch, causing Luz to drop her dirk from her mouth, and covering her ears with both hands. This was enough for the monster to land a right hook on Luz, causing her to break through the mausoleums, breaking them in the process.

Luz ended up far enough to be in another dead end. She was on the ground, sitting against a wall, blood coming out from her mouth, cuts everywhere due to the stones colliding with her. She found it hard to breath, obviously, because of how badly bruised her left side is despite the hardness of the layers of specialized clothes that she has. She slowly opened her eyes to check if the monster followed her through their mayhem, and sadly, they did. Luz tried to move but ended up struggling as she suddenly realized that an amount of debris was on top of her. She tried to move more, only ending up making a noise as a rock on top of that debris rolled over, causing the monster to snap a look at Luz’ direction.

Luz is panicking at this moment, struggling more in order to get out of the debris, and an idea came into her mind. She suddenly focused all of her energy to her free hand, raising it towards the approaching monster.

“ _You’re really making me do this, huh?_ ” Luz thought as she raised her hand like it had a laser blaster on the palms. With the monster fast approaching, Luz closed her eyes and channeled everything to her palms, depending on her hearing to indicate when the monster is close.

As the monster screamed as they neared to Luz, Luz breathed in, opening her mouth to speak.

“ **CIEGO!** ”

In an instance, the graveyard was filled with an intense amount of light that can blind anyone within 10 feet of distance, and can startle anyone within the 300-meter radius. The monster yelled in terror as they covered their eyes while layers of skin started to burn, almost melting along with the muscles and bones melting as well in the process. The monster only screamed in terror as it tried to slowly back away from Luz. Eventually, Luz had to stop the spell because it’s taking away a significant portion of her life line. As soon as the monster is busy struggling to regenerate, Luz found her way out of the debris as fast as she could. As soon as she stood up, she felt an immense amount of pain all over her body, gritting her teeth to endure the pain as much as she could. There were scratches all over her limbs, and a small bit of metal pierced through her skin on her left leg, bleeding out. Luz immediately pulled the metal out, casting a fire spell all over her body in order to immediately stop anything else from bleeding.

There she stood, struggling to keep her posture right, with a pointed metal bar she picked up being held on her hand. Her vision is halved because of the blood that flowed over her left eye. Her right leg is slightly lunging sidewards as her left is almost limping. Nevertheless, she locked her sight towards the monster that finished regenerating, raising the bar in front of her face, seemingly in defense mode, preparing to counter-attack at any moment the monster strikes her. The monster looked back at Luz and let out one frustrated yell.

“I can handle this,” Luz muttered to herself as she tries to muster whatever strength she has left.

The monster started to run towards Luz, jumping after a certain distance, and, as if on cue, she heard something over her earpiece.

“ _No, you can’t._ ”

In this instant, it looked like something hit the monster by their left side, causing them to fly away like how Luz did moments ago. This caused Luz to be in shock for a bit, making her lose her posture and sitting down, losing grip of the bar entirely. As she sat down, she saw a figure land on their feet. Luz can barely see who it is, but she knows exactly who it is.

“You’re late.”

In front of her was a brunette with pale skin, hair down, sporting mid-thigh shorts with knee-length boots for the bottom, and a dark purple overcoat-slash-blazer that has rolled sleeves up until the brachium with a shirt (not a t-shirt), and also carrying a black duffle bag on her left hand. Her lower legs are strapped with a handgun with its holster on the left, and a knife with its scabbard on the right, and by her hips presents a utility belt filled with the gun magazine for her respective handgun, with an additional external pocket by the side like a fanny. The brunette then turned her head around to look down at Luz with a smug look, annoying Luz in the process.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Amity said as she changed her smug look with a playful smirk. She then turned her entire body towards Luz, slowly pacing to the downed Afro-Latina.

“Can you stop doing that, though?” Luz said with an annoyed expression that’s almost sad as well.

“Hmmm, stop what exactly?” Amity said as she crouched in front of Luz, both knees facing forward, settling the duffle bag by Luz’ side.

“Stop going, and I quote, _Let me think about it_ , end quote---I could’ve died there!” Luz protested, only earning a chuckle from Amity.

“Never in your life, hon,” Amity teasingly said as she patted Luz’ head, causing Luz to frown.

“Besides, I know you won’t die. You’re just that stubborn,” Amity said as she gave Luz a grin, tilting her head as well, easing Luz a little bit. “Also, you look like absolute shit,” Amity added, which only led to Luz sighing in surrender, avoiding any more mindless conversation with Amity that will cause her to pass out if she’s not treated immediately.

“Can you help me at least?” Luz pleaded with her puppy eyes, almost looking horrible at it because of her situation, which Amity replied with a giggle.

“Even if I can’t, I will,” Amity said as she gently pressed one of her palms on Luz’s chest, prompting Luz to fully surrender to the touch and closed her eyes to relax, and Amity to also close her eyes and focus all her energy in transferring a significant portion of her lifeline to Luz. This caused Luz’ body to heal at a rapid rate, covering all her burnt wounds and patching them up like it was never scratched in the first place. Luz’ body glowed in the process, also restoring the amount of magical energy that she had lost. “Luckily, I can do it without having to risk much,” Amity added.

After the healing was done, Amity slowly stood up, getting the duffle bag as well and extending an arm to offer her hand. Luz followed up by grabbing the offered hand, standing up hastily as it closed a significant distance between them. With them centimeters away from each other, Luz gave Amity a quick kiss as a sign of gratitude, causing Amity to blush in a dark red tint.

“Gracias, mi amor,” Luz said with a smile.

“Nada, cariño,” Amity said as she cupped her free hand on Luz’ cheeks.

This cute moment was short-lived, however, because the monster came back at the other end of the graveyard from the couple along with dozens of other rabid vampires surrounding them. Amity turned around to give them a good look, and Luz simply grimaced at the situation.

“Well, I almost forgot about that,” Amity said unamused.

“Great, now it has backups. How does that even work?! They were just eating them moments ago,” Luz protested, flailing her hands all over.

“Well, some vampires don’t mind. Also---,” Amity took this opportunity to shove the duffle bag to Luz, grinning at the Afro-Latina in the end.

“Thanks,” Luz said as she grabbed the bag’s handle.

“Try to overstock next time, will you?” Amity said with her arms crossed, completely ignoring the growling vampires all around them. One of the impatient rabid vampires tried to pounce on Amity, only to be met with Amity’s hands as she quickly turned around, grabbing its face and smashing its head on the ground, causing the earth to shake a bit as evident by the skull-fragments-and-brain-membrane-and-blood-splash-filled crater on what was supposed to be the rabid vampire’s head. Amity simply flailed her hand to the ground to remove the blood, and dusted off her hands.

“Now, can we get this over with?” Amity said as she pulled all of her hair into an almost loose bun, revealing her undercut.

Luz nodded as they simultaneously faced the horrors in front of them. Amity stood there with one hand resting on her waist with an almost bored expression, as Luz scanned the surroundings and studied the positions of the vampires, she looked like she knew what she had to do.

“You take the rabid ones. I still have unfinished business with that thing.”

“Got it.”

With that, the two immediately moved towards the giant monster. As Luz was running towards the monster, dodging every obstacle in front of her while carrying a duffle bag, Amity was covering for Luz.

Two rabid ones quickly jumped towards Luz, but Amity was quicker as she jumped and kicked one of them towards the other, causing an explosion of guts and bones all over. Amity landed back to the ground and continued keeping up with Luz to cover her. Another rabid jumped from the right, to which Amity responded by running towards it, doing a backflip kick, decapitating the rabid vampire in the process. As Amity continued to keep up with Luz, she was immediately blocked by a crowd of rabid ones, seemingly targeting her already. Amity halted in her steps, jumping back a bit, worried for a moment before she realized none of them were following Luz anymore. This left Amity with an elated feeling.

“Wanna play, huh?” Amity said as she grabbed both of her holstered and sheathed weapons from her legs, holding the knife to a position where the blade is facing away from her with her right arm raised at almost shoulder-level, while also holding a gun with her left rested on top of the other arm, aiming at the rabid monsters. The pack only replied with snarls and growls until one of them eventually screamed, signalling them to attack.

“You’re all gonna regret this.”

Amity started shooting them precisely on their foreheads, firing as fast as she could before any one of them closed the distance. As she exhausted all 12 rounds of the magazine, she knew there wasn’t any time to reload, so the moment one of them was in front of her, she quickly stabbed it and put her gun back into the holster. With a dozen more remaining, as she was squatting down after putting back her gun, she immediately swiped everyone in front of her with her right foot, causing all of them to be in a domino effect and lose balance simultaneously. As she predicted it, the one to fall on top of her was the one with her knife to its chest. While crouching, she accurately grabbed the knife’s handle, with the other hand carrying the weight of the body. In one spectacular motion, she pulled the knife out of the chest and threw the body behind her as she stood up. She immediately jumped out of the piled bodies, and got her distance. She quickly kneeled, sheathed her knife back, and pulled out her handgun, standing up swiftly as she reloaded the gun smoothly. Before any of the monsters can start running towards her again, she aimed at them with a stern look in her eyes.

“Sorry. I have somewhere else to be,” Amity said before pulling the trigger again, putting holes on the foreheads of the monsters, spilling blood cleanly among themselves.

Meanwhile, Luz was fast approaching towards the giant monster, and in pure frustration, the monster started charging as well.

“That’s it,” Luz said with a smirk as she lifted the bag in front of her, opening it quickly before grabbing some things inside before throwing it to the side.

What she pulled out were a katana and a gauntlet. She held the katana on her right and wore the gauntlet on her left. She leaned her body forward, holding the sword sidewards with her right arm extended towards her back. On the other hand (literally), she faced her gauntlet in front of her, left arm facing to the right, palms forward as if she's projecting something, covering her face as well. They continued running towards each other until at one point the monster decided to pounce on Luz. Unfortunately for the monster, Luz was expecting this as the action left Luz with a smug look. Luz jumped over where the monster's supposed to land, flipping over as she extended her left arm down the monster's head, boosting herself upwards at the same time she casted a focused fire blast on the monster's head, blasting all the way towards the skull. Luz also took this chance to pivot through the air as she left multiple slices on the monster's back, cutting pieces of the exposed spinal cord, opening their back in the process, leaving the monster with an immense amount of pain.

Luz finished by casting a mix of the fire spell and the ice spell, causing her to create an extremely scalding vapor to finish off the monster's back, propelling her as well into an angle where she can land comfortably and stylishly. Luz landed on both feet like a gymnast, facing away from the monster who was screaming loudly because of the burning sensation they feel behind their back. To further add injury, Luz did something any overpowered, anime-based swordmaster enthusiast would do.

Luz pretended to sheath her katana to her left, the gauntlet hovering near the katana’s handle like how one would hold a habaki (or the katana’s scabbard) in preparation to slice someone upward, performing an Iaijutsu, or a quick draw. For a moment, she breathed in every focus she could get, putting a concentrated amount of magical energy towards her gauntlet. When the monster tried to go near her to attack her while regenerating, by feeling the footsteps behind her, Luz waited patiently until the monster was directly behind her. The moment this happened, Luz breathed out, quickly pulling the blade for a bit before seemingly putting it back in. This surged an intense amount of magical energy towards the blade, causing an air spell to be integrated to the blade, releasing a barrage of concentrated air slices behind her. This left the monster with what seems like millions of slices out of nowhere while the air flowed around in one space, causing the monster to drop in exhaustion.

The monster was still regenerating after that, but Luz didn't mind anymore. All she had to do was to restrict the monster's movements without needing to slice anything off, and an idea was running already, waiting for it to be executed. Luz tinkered with the gauntlet for a bit as she calibrated it to be compatible with the right hand. She stabbed the ground with the katana to hold it in place as she quickly transferred her gauntlet from her left to her right. Just in time, the monster had finished regenerating, and was ready to attack once more. Luz noticed the weakened movements from the monster, and this was all she needed. As the monster raised their hands to smash Luz, with the gauntlet and katana on one hand, she prepared her stance to be executed in one fluid motion. She raised her free hand in front of her, her arm facing the left, waiting for the monster’s hand to drop. As the monster struck, Luz spun to avoid the attack, slicing the forearm in the process and casting an ice spell over it which reached the ground, restricting the weakened monster from any other movement. As she spun, she continued spinning gracefully in alternating directions, eventually reaching the monster’s heels and slicing them as well with the ice spell and locking them in place. For safety precaution, Luz jumped over the monster to cut the other shoulder deep enough to disable the joints by separating them with an ice spell. This left the monster unable to move, exasperated yet exhausted.

Once Luz landed back to the ground, she gave the monster one good look to make sure they really can’t move. She confirmed to herself that the monster really can’t move anymore and is barely moving, and with that, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was actually holding. She slumped in relief and sat down catching her breath that she didn’t know she lost, dropping her katana in the process.

“That was quite a battle,” a voice spoke to her coming from above.

She lifted her head to look at the direction of the voice and saw none other than Amity holding the duffle bag she threw a while ago..

“Hey, Amity,” Luz said with a weak smile, earning a chuckle from Amity.

“We’re still calling each other by names?” Amity replied as she jumped down from one of the mausoleums. 

“Well, I always think what a beautiful name that is,” Luz said with a playful smile, extending one of her arms upwards so that she can be pulled up by Amity. The remark caused Amity to feel her blood flow through her face, forming a blush.

“Well, yours is more beautiful,” Amity replied as she held Luz’ hands to pull her up, causing Luz to stand up and place her forehead against Amity’s, making both of them giggle.

“Well,” Luz said in a slow and easing manner, “I think we’re both beautiful,” she added before kissing Amity, causing Amity to drop the duffle bag and cup her hands on Luz’ face as she melted into the intimate touch. They kissed for a short while before they broke away, pressing their foreheads together again.

“Yeah, I guess we are,” Amity said with a confident yet gentle smile, eyes closed as same as Luz.

This cute moment is somehow short-lived once again as both of their earpieces rang. This caused both of them to be startled, both of them pulling away from each other.

“I’ll answer that,” Luz said as she pressed something on her earpiece, causing it to form an augmented holo-glass in front of her. As Luz focused on the hologram, Amity picked up Luz’ weapons and put them into the duffle bag.

“Aw, schmuck,” Luz simply said.

“What?” Amity asked half-concerned.

“We’re being called back to HQ,” Luz said as she turned her head towards Amity again.

“Why?” Amity asked as she placed both her hands by her waist, with one having a duffle bag being held.

“I don’t know. We have to go to HQ to know,” Luz replied, earning a groan from Amity as she slouched in semi-frustration.

“Can’t they just tell over the phone?” Amity said with an unamused look, causing Luz to laugh lightly at the remark and walk towards her, patting her head at the end.

“Lo siento, cariño, but we have protocols,” Luz said playfully.

“Ugh. Protocols. Never been a fan of them anyway,” Amity said with an annoyed look.

“I know, but still, you stayed, and you’re getting the best cuddles around here!” Luz said as she pulled Amity closer by putting her arms around the shoulders, earning a chuckle from Amity.

“We’re literally married, and you still put it like that?” Amity claimed as she put her arms around Luz’ waist with a teasing look on her face, facing Luz.

“I’m not lying now, am I?” Luz replied as she replied with a smug look on her face. All of a sudden, their earpieces rang again, causing them to flinch in each other’s arms.

“Oh, jeez. We really need to go back now,” Luz said, releasing her hold from Amity and grabbing the duffle bag being held by the latter. Amity broke away as well with a smile on her face.

“Sure, but before that---,” Amity said as she walked towards the still breathing monster that was behind them the entire them, “---what would you want me to do with this big one over here?”

“The usual, Mrs. Noceda,” Luz said as she pulled out a silver rod out of the duffle bag before throwing it to Amity. Amity caught the rod with ease which suddenly transformed into a scythe with a blade made of tungsten.

“Decapitation and poison it is, then,” Amity said with a smile on her face, causing Luz to smile back and turn around to start walking, putting the duffle bag over her shoulders and signalling Amity to start with her free hand by simply raising a thumbs up. Amity then turned back to the monster who is still exhausted from the pain. She immediately brought the scythe’s blade to her palms and cut the palms deep enough so she could cover the edge with her blood. After doing so, she jumped to the side of the monster over a mausoleum, and positioned the edge of her scythe to the monster’s neck.

“For practice purposes, I’m gonna say this:,” she said as she lifted the scythe above her, ready to drop at any moment.

“I’m not a Blight but my own. I am Amity Noceda, wife of the light, your worst nightmare.”

The monster let out one last yell before Amity cut their head, avoiding spilling everywhere because of her poisonous blood rapidly decomposing the body. Afterwards, the scythe turned back into a rod as she jumped down and started walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for added effects in reading the fight scenes, you can listen to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBKPgUvDVqE) song.


	2. Something's Changed: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at the place where the couple work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I've been coping with a lot lately, so as you can see, the update is slow, but that's okay! I'm learning to take my time as well and not get stressed out about this.

The Isles is not a friendly place to say the least. Biosystem-wise, the country wide hellhole surrounded by a large body of extremely poisonous and boiling water is filled with monsters coexisting beyond the realm and businesses of humans. The fauna and flora are everything that can practically kill anyone, both monsters and humans, ranging from intellectual beings that can put up illusions to entire towns, and simply flowers that can kill if one dares to look at them (this hasn't been confirmed because anyone who tried doesn’t live to tell the tale so nobody really knows the specific). Race concerned, everyone is distinctly different. Everything that one can see in a Dungeons and Dragons lore book can be found here. The only difference is that somebody vamped the grotesque and vile to around 200%, causing everything to break loose every once in a while (finally, “all hell broke loose” could be used in a literal sense). Dubbed as “Hell on Earth,” this island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is the convergence between fantasy and reality and it’s not nice like everyone expects it to be.

However, the place has its fair share of culture because the place existed for years before humans discovered it with advanced technology. Being protected by an otherworldly source of power called magic, the place has sustained throughout major extinctions, natural calamities, and has avoided colonizations, the worst of them all (well, stopped because anyone who ended up in The Isles either melted in the sea or got killed by the shore by normal citizens in the said place). The Isles is rich in culture because of the diversity it’s presented with its race. There are sea people near the bodies of water summoning gigantic sea creatures annually, witches dancing to rituals connecting to nature, three-eyed snake people forcing the residents to write for him, and the most notable of them all: how they happen to have their own language system in the past which is surprisingly similar to 90% of the systems found in modern Asia today. Although, some of the colonizers dropped some of their travel journals by the shore, and they were picked up by artifact collectors, looking to sell them to the common people as drawing books and scribbles. None of them took interest, however, other than book enthusiasts who kept collecting books to be put on their shelves as part of their aesthetics. It wasn’t until centuries later that they found those journals to be useful as a means of communicating to the people outside of The Isles when they saw one metallic clump that looked like a boat settled by the shore without being melted on the spot...at least immediately. After this encounter, some of the common folks took this opportunity to advance themselves towards the same progress humans went through, travelling outside of The Isles and returning with more knowledge, and now, shit happens.

The Isles doesn't have a form of government that could rule over them. Instead, it’s everyone’s business against everyone’s business, which means everything is prone to any form of exploitation and abuse, and nothing is more utterly disgusting when all the ruling families of The Isles have dominant control over almost everything. Every action prohibited by human governance concerning abuse of power is being done by these families, and nothing is more hideous than the Blights. Known to be the most powerful being in The Isles, the Blights have it all. A loyal fanbase, soldiers, wealth, infamy, slaves, monster pets, monster soldiers, a mansion above a hill that almost looks like a castle---these Blight are not the best of people in the first place, but it makes one wonder why they are able to acquire such things when they don’t deserve them in the first place (this is ethics talking, deal with it).

Well, except for one Blight.

“Amity?” Luz said as she snapped her fingers multiple times in front of Amity already, gaining no response from her wife. They were already inside the headquarters, their utility car parked inside of the warehouse already, but Amity seemed to be spacing out even so. Luz almost gave up to get out of the car, knowing that Amity would eventually follow because this isn’t the first time this happened, but just then, she had an idea.

It wasn’t necessary, but she wanted to make sure Amity hadn't completely lost it. She opened the compartment above her, pulling out a notepad and a pen and drawing a light glyph. She casted the spell and brought the spell in front of Amity, causing Amity to blink and come out from her trance. Seeing the light, she felt her body relax, not aware that she had been stiff for a while already. She closed her eyes, breathed in and out, and smiled before looking at Luz, who has one hand extended in front of Amity’s face.

As soon as Luz got her wife's attention, she moved her extended hands to cup Amity's cheeks, making Amity purr as she relaxed into the car seat and lingered on the touch, holding Luz' hand, too.

"Hey," Luz said softly and gently as she moved her thumb to caress Amity's face, "you were spacing out again," she continued, ending with a concerned tone.

"I'm just…thinking, I guess?" Amity said with uncertainty, showing a worried expression, however, staring away from Luz.

This is not the first time this has happened. Although, it's not correct to say that this seemed like a fresh recurring incident. In reality, ever since Luz and Amity became partners as vampire hunters, after every mission they accomplished, Amity always ended up spacing out.

Amity always remembers home. She grew up in a time where The Isle is one big tri-state area full of modern human architecture full of twists, literally and figuratively. Technology had been integrated into the country's lifestyle among others, and The Isle had become a sci-fi fantasy mix of a world. However, Amity remembered home as a grey, dark, and dull place that smelled rotten and dead. She always remembers the tall buildings brooding below the hilltop they're in, but she never got to see it up close. For as long as she could remember, she never left the premises of the manor. The farthest that she went by her own accord was by the gate, staring off to the distance.

All she can remember is the dark red sky hovering over their manor as the stench of dead bodies fill the entire area every single day. All she can remember is the fact that the hopeful blue sky of downtown doesn't mix well with the blood-drenched sky the Blight has. All she can remember is the fact that despite being part of the wealthiest family of The Isles, her home looked like a piece of unfurnished and unmaintained shit that's either made with Darkwood or painted to look like one. All she can remember about home is that it doesn't feel like it's somewhere she belongs, and that she doesn't want to accept the fact that it was once her home. 

The moment she got an out, she went for it…

...in a way.

"Well," Luz said, snapping Amity back to reality as the latter suddenly had a surprised expression on her face. "I believe the thing to say after that is," Luz continued as she moved her hands away from Amity's face, going down to Amity's left hand. Luz shifted her body to face Amity so she could put her other hand as well. As Luz grabbed Amity's left hand, she stared at the ring made of ivory steel and an amethyst gemstone, fiddling with it with her fingers softly and gently. 

"You are home," Luz finished, looking up to Amity with a soft grin on her face.

Amity sighed in relief before grinning back. She raised her hand and put it behind Luz' head, pulling her in as she pressed their foreheads together. Feeling each other's trusting breath, both ladies can't help but close their eyes and smile slightly laughing, humming in each other's company. 

"You really know what to say, huh?" Amity said. "Where's my dork who would falter at the first sign of affection?" Amity jokingly added as she pulled them away from each other's faces.

"Hey, that's my line!" Luz said with a smile, laughing after. "Besides, you blush harder between us two," Luz added as she pulled her hands away as well, causing both of them to relax back into their car seats.

"Uhhh, you can't prove that. I'll have you know that I never blush," Amity said as she crossed her arms and gave a smug look to Amity.

"That's because yo---," Luz said, interrupted by the buzzing of her phone---her personal phone, not the institution-issued one---accompanied by the ringtone of a random anime opening song. Luz immediately grabbed the phone that was placed in the middle compartment of the car, and checked what's up.

"Oh," Luz said with a surprised look. "It's mami," she said as she turned back to Amity, who still has that smug look, with a grin.

"I guess I'm expecting you to catch up to the briefing room then," Amity said, uncrossing her arms.

"Sìempre, cariño," Luz said as she almost immediately looked back at her phone to answer the call.

"Hola, mami. ¿Como esta?"

Amity simply smiled at the sight of Luz talking to her mother. It didn't make Amity jealous in any way at all that Luz is experiencing this kind of concerned love because Luz' mother, Camilia, gave Amity the same type of motherly love Luz got rather than pity. The moment Amity was introduced to Camilia, the former was treated immediately like a daughter (and then a step-daughter later) by the latter, so it always felt good when Amity sees a sight of any sort, whether one is distant or both are present, of the two women that loved her so much than her mother could ever.

After taking in such sight, Amity then removed her seatbelt and proceeded to pack her backup things up which consists of a shoulder bag full of medical supplies and her phones, which is somehow scattered by her feet. She got out of the car as soon as she stuffed her things into her bag, and proceeded to the trunk to get Luz' duffle bag before being interrupted by Luz head sticking out of her open car door, calling Amity's attention.

"Amy, I'll take care of that," Luz quickly said; Amity nodded in response as she closed the trunk the same time Luz got back into the car.

Amity proceeded to continue walking in the warehouse to get to the main building. As she walked around the warehouse, she scanned to check on what's new on their equipment.

* * *

Their headquarter's warehouse is filled with everything that they need. From vehicles, both light and heavy ones; weapons and ammunition, clothes for casual disguises, clothes for fighting, spellbooks and apparatuses---the warehouse is filled with everything vampire hunters need for any mission. It is also the place for research tests, and one research experiment caught Amity's eyes as she stopped to check.

"What do you have there, Dr. Clawthorne," Amity said as she called the attention of one tall lady turning around to her. Before her is a lady in her 40's wearing a buttoned up and tucked in white long sleeves, topped with a lab coat, with black slim pants and heels for her bottom wear. She has a curly hair that's red-ish with a grey-ish streak, her ends having an almost pitch black color. Her eyes are heterochromatic in nature as one has a grey color while the other has a dark blue color, and she has big round glasses as well.

"Ah, Amity, it's nice to see you as always," the lady said with a smile. "And please, Lilith's fine already," the lady said.

"Whatever, Lilith," Amity said light-heartedly, rolling her eyes. "So, what's that?" Amity asked as she pointed at the door being constructed like how they do it in Monster's Inc. (Amity honestly believes that that world is a million times better than what The Isles is right now). 

Lilith turned back while putting an arm behind Amity's, pushing her towards the invention.

"This, my protegé, is a portal," Lilith proudly said with such pride yet kindness and enthusiasm.

"A portal to what exactly?" Amity asked in confusion, tilting her head as well. She knows that the transportation systems that they have were already fast enough to reach an end of the world in mere minutes, so she doesn't quite see a reason why a portal with so much risk should be built.

"That is the rhetorical question to that," another voice interrupted behind them with such energy. An arm wrapped around Amity's shoulder before the young adult can even react, causing Amity to stiffen in surprise.

" _That_ is the portal to what," the new person said. Amity then turned her head to look who's talking, and immediately loosen up once she realized who it was. Beside her was also a tall lady, but compared to Lilith, she is more vibrant in colors. She was wearing an unfinished maroon long sleeves with a crimson red coat with an amber as a pin for her top, and a scarlet slim pants with men’s oxford shoes for her bottom. It was not that sophisticated, but what made her stand out is the monotonous grey mane with a white streak along with that golden fang sticking out of her mouth, and a heterochromatic pair of eyes as well, with one gray and the other being the same amber color as her pin.

“It is _the_ portal to where a portal could go,” the lady finished before looking at Amity with a smug face.

“Director Clawthorne!” Amity said, making the lady snort and laugh a bit.

“Kid, Eda’s fine,” the lady said with a grin, prompting Amity to roll her eyes.

“Can you drop the formality next time, Amity?” Lilith asked with a half-smile.

“Well, protocols are protocols,” Amity jokingly said, shrugging, earning a laugh from Eda and Lilith.

“I guess it can’t be helped,” Lilith said, smiling fully this time before turning back to the invention. “Anyway, what Eda was saying was that this portal can be a portal that can open any fabric of space anywhere anytime,” she said with enthusiasm before going back to a thinking look again. “Well, maybe not anywhere like anywhere in the galaxy but just anywhere here on Earth.”

“The point is, kiddo, this portal door can be a door to any door,” Eda backed-up, causing Amity to start thinking whether this idea seems familiar or not that Luz and her might’ve watched in a movie. “This is our finest invention yet,” the director followed up, wearing a look of plain pride. 

Amity looked at the currently-being built portal for a moment before flinching as if she suddenly remembered something(in which she actually did).

“Oh, right, director!” Amity said before being cut by Eda. “Just Eda, please. It makes us feel old,” Eda protested with a chuckle. “Eda, why did you call me and Luz back to base?” Amity asked, facing the director. Eda took a good look at Amity, trying to actually remember why they called them in the first place until she got distracted by a sudden crash in one of the areas in the warehouse. All of them looked at the direction of the crash, trying to make sense of what just happened.

They saw the records and archives cabinet had fallen down and that papers are flying around the area. Thankfully, nobody was crushed...that they know of. Suddenly, they saw something---or someone----scampering about towards them, with a piece of paper on its...mouth?

Running towards them in all fours is a dog-like being with a skull for a mask of sorts, with the skull having a pair of horns, one of them being broken that is. The creature is not that small; it is slightly larger than a shih tzu, but a bit smaller than that of a retriever. It has a black and grey-ish fur with lion-like paws, wearing a red collar with a gold tag, and its eyes have a yellow selera(the thing that’s supposed to be white for a human), with magenta irises. It’s also worth noting that this creature is carrying a huge codex behind its back like a backpack as it is placed inside a string bag wherein The bag itself isn't actually closed. It’s just open enough for the book to be placed in like how a baby is with a baby carrier.

“A cuegle!” The creature said, still scampering towards them. “Cuegle!”

“A cuegle?” Amity blurted out out of instinct, but this snapped Eda back to reality.

“Ah, yes!” Eda exclaimed as she hit her palm with her fist in eureka. “I remember now,” Eda continued at the same time the creature had arrived, heavily panting.

“They saw---they saw a cue---woo! I will not do that again,” the creature said with an emphasis on “not” as it stood up on both legs, leaning its hands against one of Amity’s legs. Amity looked down with delight before picking up the creature(one hand is by the codex while the other is behind the creature’s knee)..”I think it’s cute, King,” Amity said while carrying King like how one would carry a baby. “How would Luz say it? Oh, right. _Lindo_ ,” Amity said with a teasing smile. “Don’t encourage him, kid, he might not insist on going back down,” Eda said, crossing her arms, earning her a glare(a cute angry one) from King.

“Hey! I may have grown soft towards our best hunters in the institution, but I’m still the King of Demons!” King said as he pointed a finger(or paw fingers? Claw?) towards Eda.

“Ohhh. So is the King of Demons alright with being put down already?” Amity playfully said, only for King to squeak before clearing his throat to speak again. “I mean, yes! The King of Demons doesn’t have a problem with that,” he said before drifting off with an embarrassed look. “...just 10 more minutes, I guess?” 

“Sure,” Amity said, supposedly saying something more when somebody rested on her shoulder, causing her to twitch her entire body.

“Only because you’re the most adorable one here,” a familiar voice said, causing Amity to feel glad and relaxed as she turned her head slightly to get a good look at her wife. "Well, second to Amy here, of course," Luz said, tilting her head a bit to look at Amity.

Before they could continue in their banter, Eda cleared her throat to get their attention. “As King was saying...”

* * *

“So you’re telling us that threat 5 monster broke loose in a suburb without any of our patrols detecting such a huge beast?” Luz asked in confusion, with Amity nodding in Luz’s remarks.

“Yes, and the other strange thing about that monster is that it was casting spells,” Eda replied with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall beside the screen. King took this opportunity to go up to the conference room’s table by standing on his codex to boost him up, pulling it up afterwards. The couple waited for King to settle down, noting that he might have something to say about this since he is the institution’s expert demonologist and all.

“Cuegles are best known for their tendencies for their hostility against beings and for their kleptomania for babies, but never was there a record regarding cuegles using any form of witchcraft,” King said before opening his codex to a page while holding the paper he was biting a while ago. “They are the same species as humanoid giants which are the distant relatives of giants, but nowhere in their evolution were they of magical affinity. They usually avoid magic because it can disrupt their way of life, even for a hostile giant like a cuegle,” King continued, earning an even more confused look from Luz, anda pondering look from Amity with her arms on her chin.

“On the bright side, the cuegle was last seen walking towards a cemetery near the suburbs. On the bad note, nobody has seen the monster ever since,” Eda said with an unamused face in the end.

“What would you want us to do?” Luz asked, leaning her back against the chair with her hands behind her head.

“What kind of question is that?” Eda said, genuinely confused.

“I mean, what would you want us to do with the cuegle? Do we track it, investigate the area, hunt it?”

“It’s best if we first investigate it, Luz,” Amity casually suggested, still pondering, earning a hum of query from Luz.

“Yeah, I think you should all do that first,” King added with Eda backing him up. “Yep, and maybe we might make sense of what the cuegle is before it can decompose and wither away.”

“Well, since Amy is the voice of reason between us, then I’m fine with it,” Luz said with a gentle surrendering tone in her voice. “Do the witnesses have pictures of the monster?”

At the moment Luz was having a conversation with Eda and King, Amity kept thinking.

Amity knows well the fact that King stated about cuegles since they had once a servant at the Blight Manor as a guard, but at the same time she knows that magical affinity is not something that is inherited, but it was something that was learned. It’s just the magical potential of every creature that differs so it’s not far-fetched that a cuegle can do magic, but even that is still confusing to ponder on. Looking at the screen, she can discern that the spells aren’t the basic variations of the spells. The damage done to the streets and the houses are too destructive than to what a cuegle can do. The best that a cuegle can do is break a car down, not burn it to shreds. She knows that giants at best can learn basic spells, but even with that they can still struggle because their bile sacs are not as developed compared to a human, but it’s still there, which is why it’s so flabbergasting to think about what happened.

In the middle of her thoughts, Amity was snapped out of her thinking trance as she felt Luz scoot over her side. Amity perked her posture up before looking at Luz, slightly shocked.

“You seem to be too serious about this, Amy,” Luz said with a concerned look on her face, as she slid the pictures she was asking a while ago in front of them. Amity eased up a bit, but she still looked concerned.

“There’s just something that I can’t pinpoint. There’s something fishy here,” Amity said leaning towards the table and resting her head on top of it, sighing. Amity looked at the pictures in front of her before grabbing one of them. She raised the picture in front of her, closely examining it. Suddenly, her eyes widened before perking back up with a surprised look.

“Amy, what’s wrong?” Luz said hastily as she wrapped her arms around the brunette’s waist as Amity isn’t always one for being surprised.

“What are these photos again?” Amity asked.

“Those are the pictures from the scene as well as from witnesses. Why?” Luz asked back.

“These are claw marks, aren’t they?” Amity said, earning a shocked look from Eda and King, leaving Luz more confused than she is already.

“Yeah. What about it?” Luz said with a curious look on her face.

“Luz,” Amity said in an almost horrified tone.

“Hm?”

“Cuegles don’t have fingers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next part is the epilogue of this prologue arc and i will update it at the same time with the first part of the second arc and i will update around 5 days from now (hopefully)
> 
> also i love the idea of luz calling amity amy because it literally means beloved
> 
> spoilers: i lied on the time of update HAHAHAHAHAHA


	3. Something's Changed: Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A turn of event in the investigation. What happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHA I FORGOT ABOUT THIS
> 
> anyway enjoy
> 
> school sucks

The next day, Luz and Amity were driving to the cemetery.

This is nothing new considering that they’re married couples already, and that they’ve been working together for almost ten years already (technically). A simple car ride towards a hotspot for suspicious activities, especially vampires, wouldn’t exactly be a problem for both of them. They’re vampire hunters after all, but even so, it’s always nice to investigate something entirely different, something that is beyond their expertise; a chance to learn, and for years, they’ve been fine with it. Learning about different creatures, having a chance to go on missions without much action so that they can relax---these are just a few of the things the couple liked about these types of investigation.

The only difference this time, however…

“Mi corazón,” Luz said with a worried look on her face, while still looking at the road. Amity didn’t respond; she had a serious look on her face with eyebrows furrowed, almost looking like an angry expression, and her eyes were facing outside the car window, seemingly thinking about something.

Luz recognizes this expression anytime. She knows Amity heard her, and the only reason that she wasn’t responding was because she’s dead serious about something, and Luz had at least a small idea on why. So, to break the silence without pushing Amity to break something in the car, she recalled the conversation they had a while in debriefing.

“So,” Luz said with a bit of declaration in her tone, like clarifying. “You’re telling us that the monster everybody saw was indeed not a cuegle?” Luz asked, emphasizing on the “not” part. “And that this...monster is a mutant?” Luz continued, earning a groan from Amity, but not in a way that it’s directed towards Luz.

“Yes, and that’s really bothering me!” Amity replied, breaking away from her serious mood and going into a frustrated one. “How in Titans does one accelerate genetic evolution, or de-evolution for this matter, that a cuegle, that has lived for centuries without hands, would have hands all of a sudden?!” Amity continued. Luz can’t help but shoot Amity a worried look.

“Don’t you think you’re overthinking this through?” Luz said, quickly looking back at the road, only for Amity to sigh and rest her head back to the glass..

“I wish I am. My guts are telling me otherwise,” Amity frowned, causing Luz to briefly lose control of the vehicle, almost crashing to the side.

“ _ Oh no. That is not the thing I was expecting, _ ” Luz thought, and Amity knows that this is the first thing Luz will think of, and that’s the reason why Amity wasn’t trying to say anything in the first place.

On one hand, this is also nothing new. Luz knows that whatever thing the Amity is feeling right now, it should be trusted. After all, a hundred percent of the time when Amity felt something wrong, she is right. On the other hand, the last time that this happened---that Amity felt something wrong when they're about to go on an investigation mission---was 9 years ago when Amity was still a recruit, with Luz as her senior rookie partner, and what happened then was something that almost costed them their lives. Most of the time, Amity would feel something bad before they start their vampire hunts, so it's very unusual when the brunette feels something ominous ahead in a mission as simple as an investigation.

Then again, what else could they do? They can’t drop a mission based on a gut feeling, let alone retreat from it. They specialize in vampire hunting, but first and foremost, their priority is the peace amongst individuals co-existing, and if the slightest suspicion is made to compromise that peace, then they are to deal with such in any way they can.

So Luz only did what she did best (after learning for years): talk about it calmly.

“That bad, huh?” Luz said as she gave Amity a weak smile.

“Yeah. That bad,” Amity finished, looking back outside the car window with a frowning expression.

* * *

Not long after, they have arrived at the cemetery, and the place is as they expected it to be: on lockdown. Patrol hunters have set up a signal barrier surrounding the entire place so that they would know whether something went outside the cemetery, and so far, ever since the incident, nothing went out from the inside. Luz parked the car near the Incident Patrol Vehicle by the entrance of the cemetery. The couple went out of the car, got their things and started to go around the cemetery to go to one part of the fences that the cuegle brought down. The patrol reminded them that they are there to investigate, and any threat that may arise, contact shall be made immediately through the earpiece. Other than that, the way they went in should also be their way out. After these protocol instructions, in which Amity just kept groaning with an annoyed look, they both went inside.

Luz is feeling such a sense of deja vu since it was just yesterday (and two days before that) that she found herself at a cemetery, but it’s a fresh breath of air considering there’s nothing else other than headstones and planted trees. It’s really nice to see the sky more other than tall mini-buildings for the dead.

“So we are here to look for a cuegle,” Luz said as she casually checked one of the headstones.

“We’re supposed to,” Amity replied, trying to be alert to her surroundings.

“And if we don’t?” Luz said as she accidentally picked a chunk of cement from the headstone, causing her to widen her eyes.

“Then we search for clues on where that creature might have gone,” Amity said as she turned her gaze to Luz, who’s pretty much trying to put the cement back at this point, only to break the headstone into two. Amity frowned at the spectacle, with only Luz smiling back at her awkwardly.

Eventually, after a few minutes of walking around the cemetery aimlessly, Amity began feeling...weird.

“I’m very much confused right now,” the brunette said as she winced.

“Why?” Luz asked as she trotted to keep up with Amity’s pace, looking at the latter with a curious look..

“I have specific feelings when it comes to ominous things, but I never feel two things at once,” Amity simply said.

“What are you feeling?” Luz asked as she leaned in closer to Amity, basically bringing their bodies closer together.

“Well, other than this gut feeling towards the unknown threat,” Amity said as she let Luz wrap one of her arms around hers, “vampires.”

“Vampires?!” Said in a surprised tone.

“Exactly.”

This was enough to put Luz into thinking, though it wasn’t a deducing thought. Being in confusion, Luz slowed her pace, causing Amity to do the same. Luz always had the tendency to dwell in confusion in situations like this because instances like these makes her reconsider everything she had prepared for. She is a clumsy lady, but she always had a knack for being confidently prepared enough, and right now, she is not sure whether she’s prepared or not.

Who can blame her? This job literally tangles with life and death. 

“The reports didn’t say anything about vampires,” Luz said as she released her grasp from Amity and put her hands on her chin to think.

“That’s what makes it fishy,” Amity said as she put both hands behind her head.

* * *

The couple continued walking until they reached the end part of the cemetery. Amity stopped on her tracks to scan the area, only to grimace at the unusual aroma she suddenly picked up.

“I’m smelling something,” Amity stated firmly.

“What is it?” Luz asked as she stopped on her tracks as well, looking at Amity with a curious look.

Amity tracked the scent as she turned to every direction she could; Luz mimicked the action as she turned as well. Finally, Amity stopped to look at a tree with an entrance beneath it.

“Over there,” Amity confirmed. Luz looked over her shoulders to see where Amity was pointing at. Luz immediately recognized the place because she was just fiddling with the pathway moments ago before Amity got her attention.

“Catacombs?” Luz asked in confusion.

“More like a hiding spot,” Amity corrected as she gave Luz a look. They knew that there was a presence of vampires so there’s a risk that this is an ambush.

“Hmm. That makes sense,” Luz said.

The couple stared at the entrance for a few seconds before staring back at each other with an expectant look on their faces. They exchanged glances for a few seconds more before Luz broke the silence.

“So...uhm...who would go down?”

“Luz, I think we both know the answer to that already.”

“I’m definitely not going in there!” Luz firmly stated as she raised one of her hands in defense.

“Yeah, I know, that’s what I meant.”

“I know, but still! You might try to convince me to go down there,” Luz stated as she pouted at Amity.

“You got me there,” Amity said as she chuckled. She went to grab Luz’s duffle bag, opening it to grab on hold of something.

“Well, in any case, you know what to do. I’m gonna go check down, you keep guard,” Amity said as she continued to search inside the bag, only to pull back out an earpiece, immediately wearing it, and a gas mask.

“You have your earpiece, cariño?” Amity asked as she looked at Luz.

“Yep,” Luz replied with a thumbs up.

“Alright.”

Amity went to remove her coat to release a few weights as a precaution. She stretched for a bit before proceeding to step on the first step of the stairs towards the catacombs.

“Be careful down there,” Luz said as a final precaution for Amity.

“Same up there,” Amity said before finally going down.

* * *

Amity continued to go down, following the scent she picked up a while ago, and as it got dark, she grabbed one of the torches and casted a fire spell on it. No matter how modern the world could get, these catacombs are still archaic and old-fashioned in terms of design. The stone walls filled with dusts and cobwebs are not a sight to see, but the torch helps in the mysterious and dark aesthetic of the place. It makes the place feel more...sinister. Speaking of sinister, as Amity continued going down, it’s becoming more difficult to determine whether the smell is a hundred percent certain that it’s from a vampire since further down, some of the tombs are broken down and open, paving the way for the stench of rotting flesh and withering bones to come to air. It was a confusing and horrifying sight, though it is nothing new for the pale brunette. Much further down, Amity eventually reached a wider area of the catacombs, more like a lounge once one enters a building, and what she saw there is shocking even for an experienced hunter like her.

The catacombs are filled with corpses behind the skeletal walls and the tombs which basically means that behind the walls and underneath that part of the cemetery are crammed bodies from a long time ago. Imagine a crowded plaza but buried underground with everyone decaying. It’s no surprise that there are a lot of bodies behind the wall, but it is a surprise to see all of them lying around the floor. What’s more notable is that as soon as Amity stepped down from the stairs, she saw a body in the center ripped open like how Hannibal Lecter did in “The Silence of the Lambs” when he did an escape. The sight grossed Amity out, but she had to investigate this. She wore her gas mask and casted a light spell instead to have a better range for light. As she tiptoed her way over the bodies around, she made some notes:

1\. All of the walls are broken down to reveal the bodies. Why?

2\. Why is there a displayed and gutted body in the middle? Why go to such an extent?

3\. There is a sign of break-in as the steps are also lacking some dusts as well as the walls. When?

As she approached the body, she immediately checked whether the body was fresh or not, and to her surprise the body was fresh.

It’s not just a body she would expect.

4\. Vampire?

Then it clicked: a set-up.

Someone knows that Amity can distinguish the strong smell of a vampire whether that vampire is alive or not, so the only thing she can’t distinguish is whether or not the said creature is alive or not. In order to lure her in, someone killed a vampire in the deepest part of the cemetery and immediately surrounded it with other stenches that are weaker than a vampire so that she could put on something to cover it once she reached a certain level. Another thing is for sure: the fresh body indicates that this set up was done moments before they arrived there, meaning that whoever did this is still in the area.

Whoever did this must be that unknown threat, and they are on the surface. Luz is in danger

In a moment, Amity tried to contact the surface.

“Luz. Can you copy?”

Nothing. Just static.

“Luz?! LUZ!”

Amity failed to take account that hidden among these rotting bodies is a signal jammer that has a radius as big as the room, making it a perfect death trap chamber. As she realized what was happening to her earpiece, she turned it off and immediately started march back towards the stairs, when suddenly-

**_*clicks*_ **

She stepped on something, causing the walls of the stairs to suddenly start beeping.

“Oh FUCK THI---”

The walls exploded in front of her.

* * *

“Who are you?” Luz said as she saw somebody appear from behind a mausoleum covered in shadows. She feels like she's in trouble right now.

“Oh you know, just a passer-by,” the stranger said.

The first moment Luz saw the stranger, she immediately knew something was up. How can someone bypass them as they patrol the area? Moreover, since when did they get in? Unless...

“Do all passers-by smell that bad?” Luz asked, hoping that her instinct is correct.

“What do you mean? I smell perfectly fine,” the stranger said as they went out and revealed themselves. In front of Luz was a pale female with pink hair with a noticeable scar on her forehead. The stranger was wearing a black unbuttoned leather jacket with no undergarments and a black ankle-length skirt, with no footwear on sight. Luz took note of the stranger’s complexion.

“You have a paler tone than a usual human,”

“It’s called foundation. Haven’t you heard of it?”

“That’s not how those work,” Luz said as she also noticed the foundation also applied on her chest, which is an unusual place to put foundation on. “Especially when you have them all over your body.”

“I don’t get you---,” the stranger said before being cut off by the sound of a gunshot, causing her to react almost too quickly. Once she realized what she did, she turned around to face Luz, only to be met with a serious and threatening look.

“The average velocity of a 9mm bullet is around 1,246.7 feet per second. To avoid such high speed projectiles means you have to be at least 1 feet per second faster, and considering that I don’t see any bullet marks on you, I can safely assume that you moved at such speed, even higher than a feet per second,” Luz claimed, only earning a clap from the stranger.

“Impressive. Are all hunters like this?”

“Consider that as a fuking warning shot, vampire,” Luz said as she held her handgun higher and more precise.

“Sharp as ever, Light,” the stranger said; Luz cringing at the name.

“Who are you?” Luz said as she quickly grabbed something inside the bag before kicking it away mid-air. She got the transforming tungsten scythe, prompting it for her to hold in anticipation with her left. The stranger didn’t seem fazed by this.

“Oh I’m just like you! I’m a hunter as well, and you see, there’s this certain nuisance that we want to eradicate,” the stranger said, only for Luz to realize what’s up: Amity.

The vampires have been targeting Amity ever since. She can track them easily after all, and to see a consciously thinking and sane vampire hunting her down is not exactly a new sight to see, but it’s still a dangerous sight nonetheless.

“You stay away from her you filth!” Luz exclaimed, being more aggressive and defensive in her stance this time.

“Oh I don’t have to. She’s already in my trap,” the stranger said as she smirked.

At that moment, the catacombs’ wall exploded, causing the entrance to be blocked as well.

“Fuck!” Luz said as she turned to look at the entrance.

“Don’t sweat it, Light," the girl said, earning a serious frown from Luz as the vampire hunter turned her head back. Luz hates the nickname vampires had given her. It may just be a translation, but for her, no monster this malicious has the right to treat her as if she's their friend, or even an acquaintance. "She may or may not survive, so I’m still expecting her to show up anytime. I’m kind of gambling here," the stranger continued as she approached Luz slowly.

“What do you want?” Luz said. Something bad is coming.

“Like I said, there’s a certain nuisance that we, the vampires, want to eradicate,” the stranger said. Out of nowhere, the vampire held out her arms, wounded by the palms. The blood flowing out of the wound were suddenly moving by command, forming a claymore at the palms of the vampire. The vampire then held her arms sidewards to show off her sword, establishing a threatening demeanor.

“And that means you too, bitch!” the stranger said as she adapted a sword stance in preparation. Luz only managed to gulp at the huge claymore being held.

“ _ This is gonna be a long night, _ ” Luz thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry if it's a short one i'm focusing more on art rather than writing but i will try to finish this arc

**Author's Note:**

> hello. if you liked this and you have some questions, leave it in the comments.  
> actually any comment is appreciated  
> also kudos  
> yes they are married here
> 
> more characters and plot soon


End file.
